Drawer stop



July 5, 1966 F. A. DEUTSCH 3,

DRAWER STOP Filed April 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 h I I I I 1 I g 1 ,p 4525- 1 I 33A? I m! l 47 44 37 Fig. 5

INVENTOR. FRITZ A. DEUTSCH I MAz/ZL K ATTORNEY July 5, 1966 F. A.DEUTSCH 3,

I DRAWER STOP Filed April 1, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 |H E W "h i 72 Fig.5

INVENTOR. FRITZ A. DEU'rscH Mi xi AT TORNEK United States Patent3,259,447 DRAWER STUP Fritz A. Deutsch, Euclid, Ghio, assignor toAddressagraph-Multigraph Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Apr. 1, 1964, Ser. No. 355,416 Claims. (Cl. 312348) Thisinvention relates to a sliding drawer or shelf arrangement and moreparticularly to a stop device cooperative therewith to provide certaindesirable results.

Existing arrangements of this nature utilize various latching andlocking means to prevent accidental removal of the sliding drawer orshelf members from a cabinet or the like, and to provide retaining meansfor the sliding members when they are pulled out from a normally closedor retracted position. Some of these arrangements are such that thelatching or locking means can be actuated to release the retaining meansand permit complete removal of the sliding member from the storage orfiling cabinet. However, since the actuation of the retaining meansusually requires hand release of the latching means to remove thesliding member from the cabinet, it is somewhat inconvenient anddifficult to support the drawer with one hand while using the other handto trip the latch. This condition, of course, is aggravated in thoseinstances where latching means are provided on both sides of the slidingdrawer or the like, since such an arrangement requires the use of bothhands to release the drawer from its latched position. It will beappreciated, if the drawer is filled or contains heavy objects, it isawkward to remove the drawer from storage Without the possibility ofdropping it to the floor.

Although in many instances frequent removal of the drawer from thecabinet is not a requirement, in an addressing application whereinprinting plates are filed in drawers and a complete drawer of plates isplaced into the plate feed magazine of an addressing machine, it isessential that the drawers be easily removable from the cabinet with nodanger of pulling the drawer completely out by accident and droppingtheplates to the floor. Accordingly, while the device of the presentinvention is suitable for use with a wide combination of drawers andcabinets, it is particularly useful in connection with addressing orimprinting applications.

Additionally, when considering that most printing plates are made ofmetal, and the large number of plates contained in a single drawer, itwill be appreciated that a drawer of plates represents considerableweight. The weight of the drawers, plus the lack of a positive drawerstop in present day plate file cabinets, sometimes results in droppingthe drawer and the plates.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a stop device for adrawer or the like, to prevent accidental removal of the drawer from thecabinet whileat the same time providing for easily removing the drawerwhen 'desired.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a posifrom anormally closed or retracted position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drawer vstop which issimple in construction, economical to produee and easily attached toexisting storage cabinets.

A feature of the invention is the provision of an ar- 3,259,447 PatentedJuly 5, 1966 rangement which normally prevents unintentional removal ofthe drawer, but which makes intentional removal very convenient byarranging for the means stopping the "ice drawer to be released merelyby tilting the drawer slightly in a direction contrary to the positionnormally assumed on extension.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become moreapparent from the following description and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial front elevation of a storage cabinet with partsbroken away showing the mounting arrangement of the drawer stop of thepresent invention,

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1, but showing the drawerwithdrawn from the cabinet to open position,

FIG. 3 is a section similar to FIG. 2, but showing the drawer beingremoved from the cabinet,

FIG. 4 is a detail elevation of amodified version of drawer stop device,

FIG. 5 is a section similar to FIG. 2, but showing an alternatearrangement of the drawer stop, and

FIG. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

The novel drawer stop of the present invention may be used with a widevariety of storage cabinets, and the cabinet disclosed herein is merelyrepresentative. As shown in FIG. 1, the cabinet contains a number ofopenings 11 each of which is adapted to receive a drawer. The side wallsof the openings are provided with channel members 13 which guide thedrawers as they are moved I The drawer stop 17 is pivotally mounted onthe pin 15 and is retained on the pin by means of a C washer 19. Atorsion spring 21 is also placed on the pin 15 with one arm 23 of thespring held under stress by engagement with the underside of the top 27of the cabinet, and the other arm 25 hooked over the top edge of thedrawer stop 17.

The drawers are designated by reference character 33 and are providedwith side walls 31 which at their top edges comprise inwardly turnedflanges 35, the flange 35 which is aligned to coact with the drawer stop17 being provided with an opening 37 therethrough for the purpose to beexplained hereinafter.

The drawer stop 17 can be made of metal, plastic or the like, and isprovided with a nose portion 41, a locking projection 43 having a stopsurface 42 and a release projection 45. The drawer stop 17 is biased ina counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2, when the drawer 33 isin its closed position in the cabinet, and the projection 43 rests onflange 35. As the drawer is pulled out of the cabinet, the stop 17 ridesalong flange 35 until the projection 43 drops into the opening 37 andnose 41 rests .on a margin of the horizontal portion of member 13 tolimit the downward travel of the stop. Inthis position the drawer isheld fast by the stop and accidental removal of the drawer from thecabinet is prevented.

The forward edge of projection 43 has a cam surface 44 so arranged thatwhen it is desired to restore the drawer into the cabinet, inwardmovement of the drawer causes the back end of the drawer to engagesurface 44 thereby pivoting the drawer stop upwardly into a positionsuch that projection 43 rides on flange 35 until projection 43 entersopening 37. Further forward movement of the drawer causes an edge 47 ofopening 37 to engage the cam surface 44, thereby again camming the stopupwardly and withdrawing projection 43 from opening 37 as the drawer isrestored to its closed position. Channel 13 is provided with a clearanceopening 49 to permit pivotal movement of the drawer stop 17.

The drawer stop 17, adjacent its pivot point, and at the same sidethereof as projection 43, includes the downwardly extending releaseprojection 45, previously noted. Projection 45 is short enough tonormally avoid interference with the flange 35, but long enough to beengaged by the same under special circumstances.

To remove the drawer from the cabinet, all that is required is towithdraw the drawer to its fully extended position shown in FIG. 2, andto lift the front end of the drawer to the position shown in FIG. 3.This lifting movement is effective to engage flange 35 with the releaseprojection 45 of the drawer stop, thereby pivoting stop 17 upwardlyagainst spring 21 and withdrawing locking projection 43 from opening 37.With the drawer stop in this position the drawer is free to becompletely removed from the cabinet.

When a drawer is removed from the cabinet, spring 21 returns drawer stop17 to a position such that its nose 41 engages channel member 13. Inthis way, projection 43 is held against excessive downward movement andremains at a position to coact properly with the drawer when it is againplaced into the cabinet.

It will be noted that projection 45 is faired into the outline of thedrawer stop 17 on the side towards the exterior of the cabinet toprevent any possibility of interference with the end of flange 35 whenthe drawer is inserted in the cabinet. The cam surface 44 also functionsin a similar manner.

From the foregoing description of the operation of the drawer stop ofthis invention, it will be seen that section 35 of the drawer may beprovided with an opening 37 at any position thereon, thereby limiting orcontrolling the extent to which the drawer may be pulled out from thecabinet. On the other hand, the section 35 may be provided with aplurality of spaced apart openings 37 to permit the drawer to be pulledout and held in place at various extended positions.

To effect the foregoing, all that is necessary is to lift the front ofthe drawer to disengage the stop from the opening and to pull the draweroutwardly a slight distance so the projection on the drawer stop isclear of the opening 37. At this point the drawer can be lowered to itsnormal position and further outward movement of the drawer will causethe stop to enter the next opening provided in section 35. In this way,the drawer may be provided with any number of positive stop positions.

The modified drawer stop shown in FIG. 4 operates in substantially thesame manner as the stop device disclosed above. However, the modifiedstop is made of spring steel and is flexed into and out of engagementwith opening 37. Since the stop is not pivoted, it is provided with anear 51 having a pair ofholes 53 therein to permit mounting the stop tothe cabinet wall as by riveting or the like.

It will be seen the modified stop has all of the required featurescontained in the stop described above, i.e., a projection 43a to enteropening 37, a cam surface 44a to engage with edge 47 of the opening 37and/or the end of flange 35, and a release projection 45a for flexingthe drawer stop upwardly when the drawer is being removed from thecabinet. It will be appreciated, since the modified drawer stop is madeof spring steel, there is no need for the nose 41 which is used in theearlier described arrangement to limit the downward travel of the drawerstop. Also, of course, the modified stop eliminates the spring 21 since,as mentioned above, the modified drawer stop is flexed, rather thanpivoted, into its operative and inoperative positions. In all otherrespects, the modified drawer stop of FIG. 4 operates in the same manneras the first described device, to retain the drawer in open position andto permit removal of the drawer from the cabinet merely by lifting upthe front end of the drawer.

FIGS. and 6 in the drawings illustrate an alternate arrangement of thedrawer stop in which the stop member is positioned below the drawer,rather than above the drawer as described above.

The drawer stop of the alternate arrangement is shown at 55 in FIG. 5and is provided with a locking projection 57, a camming surface 58 and arelease projection 59. One side of the stop 55 has a hub 61 and a pin 65aflixed thereto. The hub is also provided with a turned down end 63.

The cabinet of this arrangement is the same as described earlier andcomprises a side wall 67 and a channel member 71. Side wall 67 isprovided with a hole 64 and a pin 66, the pin projecting inwardly towardthe drawer stop 55. The stop is pivotally mounted on wall 67 in anysuitable manner, for example by positioning the turned down end 63through the hole 64 and placing a retaining washer in a groove providedin the end 63.

Channel member 71 has a lower flange 72 for supporting the drawer whichflange is provided with an opening 73 through which extends the lockingprojection 57 of the drawer stop. A spring 79 is connected to the pins65 and 66 to bias the stop in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5.It will be observed that pin 66 also acts as a stop to limit the upwardtravel of the drawer stop. The drawer of this arrangement is designated75 and is provided with an opening 77 adapted to receive the lockingprojection 57 when the drawer is in an open position. A notch 78extending in from the longitudinal edge of the flange 72 is adapted toreceive the release projection 59 of the stop 55 and/or the rear portionof the drawer 75 which operates the same.

The operation of this arrangement is substantially the same as theearlier described device. As the drawer 75 is pulled outwardly,projection 57 rides on the bottom surface of the drawer until it engagesopening 77. In this position, spring 79 is effective to urge stop 55upwardly and, thereby, retain projection 57 in locking engagement with amargin of the opening 77 in the drawer.

To remove the drawer from the cabinet, it is only necessary to tilt thefront end of the drawer upwardly and withdraw it from the cabinet. Thetilting of the drawer causes the bottom surfaceof the drawer to moverelease projection 59, thereby pivoting stop 55 in a counterclockwisedirection as viewed in FIG. 5 and disengaging projection 57 from theopening 77. As the drawer is removed from the cabinet, drawer stop 55 isagain urged upwardly by spring '79 and into engagement with stop pin 66.

Returning the drawer into the cabinet, the back end of the drawerengages surface 58 of the drawer stop and causes it to be pivoteddownwardly into a position such that projection 57 rides on the bottomsurface of the drawer until projection 57 enters opening 77. Furtherinward movement of the drawer causes an edge 76 of opening 77 to engagesurface 58 of the stop, thereby again pivoting the stop downwardly anddisengaging projection 57 from opening 77 as the drawer is restored toits closed position.

From the foregoing, it will be recognized that this invention provides asimple means to prevent accidental removal of a drawer from a cabinet.It further provides for easy removal of the drawer when desired,permitting the use of both hands to support the drawer while it is beingwithdrawn from the cabinet.

Thus, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment ofmy invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variationand modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to theprecise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changesand alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A drawer mechanism comprising a cabinet including a drawer guidemeans; a drawer slidable therein between open and closed positions; astop member having a drawer arresting surface, said stop member beingmovably mounted on the cabinet to be shiftable between a drawerarresting position in which the drawer arresting surface .stops thedrawer in said open position, and a drawer releasing position; said stopmember including an actuating portion arranged for coaction with aportion of .the drawer when the latter is in arresting contact with thestop member in said open position, and so positioned that, by tiltingthe drawer in a predetermined direction while the drawer is in said openposition, the actuating portion is acted upon by the drawer to shift thestop member to drawer releasing position in response solely to saidtilting, whereby .the drawer may then be withdrawn past the stop member.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which the stop member alsoincludes a camming surface engageable by the drawer as the same isreturned to the cabinet for carnming the stop member aside to allow thedrawer to pass the same without interference.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 in which the actuating portion ofthe stop member is arranged to be operated by the coacting portion ofthe drawer when the latter is tilted upward.

4. A device as set forth in claim .1 in which the stop member is pivotedupon the cabinet and has its drawer arresting surface at the same sideof the pivot as the actuating portion.

5. A drawer mechanism comprising a cabinet including drawer guide means;a drawer slidable therein between open and closed positions; a stopmember pivoted at one end on the cabinet and having near its other end adrawer arresting surface, said stop member being swingable between adrawer arresting position in which .said drawer arresting surfaceengages the drawer to stop the same in open position, and a position inwhich the drawer arresting surface is withdrawn from the path of the.drawer to release the drawer for removal from the cabinet; means forurging said stop member [towards drawer arresting position; and arelease projection on :said stop member between said arresting surfaceand said pivot arranged for contact with a portion of the drawer whenthe latter is in open position, said projection having an extentsufficient that when the drawer is raised slightly with respect to itsin and out sliding path, the contacting portion of the drawer acts onthe projection to retract the stop member in opposition to said urgingmeans an amount such that the arresting surface clears the drawer andpermits withdrawal thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1949 Martin 312323 8/1951 Keim 31 2 323

1. A DRAWER MECHANISM COMPRISING A CABINET INCLUDING A DRAWER GUIDEMEANS; A DRAWER SLIDABLE THEREIN BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSED POSITIONS; ASTOP MEMBER HAVING A DRAWER ARRESTING SURFACE, SAID STOP MEMBER BEINGMOVABLY MOUNTED ON THE CABINET TO BE SHIFTABLE BETWEEN A DRAWERARRESTING POSITION IN WHICH THD DRAWER ARRESTING SURFACE STOPS THEDRAWER IN SAID OPEN POSITION, AND A DRAWER RELEASING POSITION; SAID STOPMEMBER INCLUDING AN ACTUATING PORTION ARRANGED FOR COACTION WITH APORTION OF THE DRAWER WHEN THE LATTER IS IN ARRESTING CONTACT WITH THESTOP MEMBER IN SAID OPEN POSITION, AND SO POSITIONED THAT, BY TILTINGTHE DRAWER IN A PREDETERMINED DIRECTION WHILE THE DRAWER IS IN SAID OPENPOSITION, THE ACTUATING PORTION IS ACTED UPON BY THE DRAWER TO SHIFT THESTOP MEMBER TO DRAWER RELEASING POSITION IN RESPONSE SOLELY TO SAIDTILTING, WHEREBY THE DRAWER MAY THEN BE WITHDRAWN PAST THE STOP MEMBER.